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The US government should consider regulating social media algorithms that drive “what we, as consumers, see and read every day,” Jeff Lawson, CEO of Twilio, said in an interview with CNBC.
Twilio was one of many large technology companies in the United States that cracked down on the removal of content and applications that promote violence in the wake of last week’s US riots. Lawson confirmed on Tuesday that Twilio had told the popular conservative social networking app Parler that it was “violating our terms of service,” which led to the conclusion of Parler’s integration with Twilio.
“I believe that our government leaders should try to understand the role of algorithmic systems in stimulating what we, as consumers, see and read every day, because I believe it is unexplored territory for how technology affects individuals up to the level of society ”. Lawson told CNBC “A View from Above.”
“Government officials should try to understand how algorithms work and why they are optimized and what is the societal impact? Because this is the biggest externality you see today in some of the technologies that society has not given. figure out what to do with it. And I think its impact is pretty broad. “
Amazon Web Services, Zendesk and Okta have joined Twilio in taking over its services from Parler in recent days. In recent days, there has been a significant shift among technology companies in eliminating discourses that understand violence, including a permanent ban on Twitter by US President Donald Trump. However, future government interventions, regulations or potential congressional laws on how to police hate speech and misinformation will have to be resolved in the administration of President-elect Joe Biden, which begins next week.
Lawson publicly supported Biden and donated to his presidential campaign to defeat Donald Trump. He said CNBC Biden’s focus on science and politics, and far from tribalism, will be a welcome change for the United States.
Lawson rejected the notion that certain technology companies will start taking customers based on the policy.
“What we’re talking about here is hate speech and murder threats,” Lawson told CNBC’s Squawk Box. “It is not an ordinary public speech that we are used to in our society. This is a marginal issue. What we are trying to say is that the vast minority of people who have engaged in turbulent discussions about hate speech and murder and the overthrow of governments, this is what is not allowed. I’m pretty sure most rational people would agree that that kind of content, most of which is illegal, shouldn’t be part of the mass services. “
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